


True Colors

by EpicNerd



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Bashing, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire Bashing, Bad Teacher Caline Bustier, Caline Bustier Bashing, Forced Identity Reveal, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Manipulative Lila Rossi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Deserves Better, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Master Fu Bashing (Miraculous Ladybug)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28833834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpicNerd/pseuds/EpicNerd
Summary: This fic leans heavily on extreme exaggerations of characters and their flaws. If you’re wanting salt, then stick around. If not, then feel free to move along.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 238





	True Colors

Marinette was over it; over her class, over Adrien, over Chat Noir, over her teacher, and over her master. All of it; she was just done. Things couldn’t get worse, could they? Everyone she had thought to be her friends had turned against her and began bullying her, which her teacher did nothing about. Well, ‘nothing’ may not be the right word. Caline Bustier would act when there was conflict, but Marinette was always blamed and scolded over not wanting to act as an example.

And her teacher wasn’t even the only one trying to force that philosophy on her! Adrien Agreste, the boy she thought she had been head over heels in love with, tried to silence her as well, spewing crap about taking the high road because “punishing evil will not make it good”, or something. It made Marinette’s blood boil just thinking about it! She saw now who he really was, and she wasn’t sure she liked that, even as just friends.

Adrien isn’t even the only boy she’s having troubles with. Oh no, it gets worse. As Ladybug, she has to deal with Chat Noir, an immature boy who lets his personal feelings get in the way of battles that he doesn’t even take seriously to begin with! More than half the time, Ladybug has to do all the work while Chat Noir lounges back and flirts with her despite her begging him to stop. There was video evidence of this exact behavior, and no one was doing anything about it! No one gave a care that Ladybug has downright said time and time again that she doesn’t like Chat Noir in a romantic way, she likes someone else, and/or that superheroes shouldn’t date anyway as that will only further complicate secret identities.

Ohhhh, their identities. Chat Noir, on multiple occasions, has held it over her head whenever she refuses to tell him who she is, despite her explanations as to why. Not only that, but he has also been known to downright refuse to cooperate during akuma attacks because his feelings got hurt over her not being comfortable with dropping her mask for him.

For a long time, that cycle of frustration repeated over and over and over again, until, apparently, Chat Noir decided that he had the right to know who Ladybug was, and thus followed her when she left after an akuma attack. Her blood ran cold after she tried to hand a cookie to Tikki and noticed that the kwami wasn’t taking it, instead looking behind her.

The screaming match that ensued, which included Chat Noir somehow thinking that dropping his own transformation and revealing himself as Adrien would help, was horrific, and Marinette ended up dragging him by the wrist to Master Fu’s studio, fire in her eyes.

However, the fire had quickly been doused by tears when Fu said that they would both have to give up their miraculouses as they knew each other’s identities, which would be dangerous if Hawkmoth were ever to seize one of them. Adrien tried to argue back that they could protect each other even better now, and Marinette was enraged when he still seemed fixated on the fantasy where they were soulmates destined to be together.

In the end, Marinette renounced Tikki, and Adrien renounced Plagg. The two left without knowing where Fu would be relocating to, nor did they know who their replacements would be as the saviors of Paris. All Marinette knew was that she was over everything in her life, and all Adrien knew was that Marinette had spat at him to never talk to her again.

Even her parents seemed to be against her; having grounded her for the rest of the school year to her frequent tardiness. Marinette hadn’t tried to argue back, especially after turning over her miraculous. She had no city to save, no boy to try to confess to, and no friends to hang out with. Where would she be other than her bedroom? What else would she be doing? Who else would she be with other than herself?

Well, herself, and a tiny, black butterfly. It fused into her purse, and Hawkmoth wasted no time speaking to her.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I’ve been wanting to speak to you for quite some time. My name is Hawkmoth, but I have no doubt that you knew that already.”

“No…I won’t work for you. I won’t be akumatized,” Marinette said, her voice trembling as she tried to expel the villain from her mind.

“Why not? Who is it that you’re protecting? Your parents, who didn’t trust you to maintain your grades? Your friends, who believed a new girl over you? Who is it that you’re afraid of hurting? No one was afraid of hurting you.”

Marinette paused, trying to shake his words away. But, she couldn’t. No, that’s not it; she didn’t want to.

“So, what do you say, Feu? I can give you the power to show which bridges have been burned, and all I ask in return are the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses!”

“They lit the match. Did they really not expect a fire to erupt?” Marinette asked rhetorically with a conniving grin before being absorbed in dark matter.

When Feu emerged in Marinette’s place, the akuma cackled, taking a match out of her purse and lighting it with a flick of her thumb. Dropping it to the ground, she watched it light the wood floor of her room on fire before leaping up onto her bed and out through the skylight, noticing that the clear skies needed a lot more smoke in order to rightfully scorn the city that abandoned her.

Already bounding off to her next destination, Feu hummed “London Bridge is Falling Down” as she lit and dropped several more matches, igniting the City of Lights in her wake. Shortly after, she drops down on a balcony, punching through the glass door and into the apartment of the Césaire family. Alya and her two little sisters were there, but the twins were rushed out of the room while Alya stayed back, her phone already in her hands and recording.

“Alya,” Feu sang, stepping closer.

The blogger’s phone lowered from in front of her face when she recognized the voice, though it was raspy.

“M-marinette?”

“Feu, now, but ‘Marinette’ is still an upgrade from ‘bully’ and ‘liar’,” Feu taunted, flicking her tongue as she slowly approached Alya, who was backing away at the same pace.

“Why are you doing this? Just leave Lila alone and everything will be fine!”

At the mention of the brunette’s name, Feu’s eyes turned bright orange, and her hair turned into fire.

“Did you ever, for once, wonder if Lila was lying? Did you ever, with your supposed reporter skills, think to question what she was saying and look for the truth yourself? Did you ever, at any point, think to trust your best friend, a girl who would never have done the things Lila was lying about?” the akuma roared, her hands and arms turning to charcoal.

“What are you going to do?” Alya asked, shaking with fear, her phone dropped onto the ground.

“Oh, Alya, isn’t it obvious?” Feu asked, lifting her arms up to gesture around her at the apartment up in flames, “I want to watch the world burn.”


End file.
